SILVER SPRING, MD HOTEL BUSINESS. has learned at least one other national manufacturer/distributor of mattress and bedding products is having second thoughts about proceeding further in Choice Hotels International s RFP process for its newly widened, preferred-supplier program.
Answering under condition of anonymity, an executive with the prospective mattress supplier indicated the hang-up is a pre-existing, mandated requirement within Choice s long-standing, endorsed-vendor relationship with Serta that calls for an up to 4% co-operative advertising fund stipend that would have to be forthcoming directly to Choice at the corporate level (dependent on cumulative product sales).
It was theorized that including such an added-on cost in any proposal would cut into a vendor s profit picture. Or, if factored into the proposal, compliance with such a clause might even prevent the product-pricing bid from coming in low enough to warrant acceptance. It may or may not be the cost of doing business, but it could end up dissuading other mattress/bedding firms from participating in Choice s program. (4/5/01) Michael Billig